『물속의 아이들』 -진화론의 문학적 수용

Abstract

The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley reveals the conflict between creation and evolution. It is natural for Kingsley as a clergyman to believe in creation, and as a scientist to accept evolution. In The Water Babies, he tries to solve this contradiction. The book was written for adolescent readers for the purpose of moral education. The first part of the book describes the protagonist Tom, a chimney sweep, who jumps into the river to escape Mr. Grimes, and the second part of the book describes Tom’s journey to the Other-end-of-Nowhere in the water. His journey involves learning moral lessons, and he comes to understand moral evolution through the fairy Ellie, the personified Nature. The moral evolution in this story is the core that decides the direction of evolution. If some creatures refuse to abandon immoral attitudes due to inertia, they would be against evolution. Kingsley insists that there is no direction in evolution, and that it is the morality of creatures that decides the direction of evolution. I believe that Kingsley’s stance on moral evolution comes from his status as a clergyman. He could not deny either the teaching of creation in the Bible or the scientific explanation of evolution as a scientist. In oder to compromise the two conflicting positions, he suggests his own argument that evolution is possible, but that, without good morality, any creature cannot proceed toward better situations. Considering that The Water Babies was written for adolescent readers, we need not criticize the educational intention of this book. Rather, it is better for us to read The Water Babies as a parody of evolution, which had shaken the foundation of Victorian society, and to understand the work as a medicine for the anxiety of the Victorian Era.